Genesis of Baltic Europe
The region around the Baltic Sea traditionally features strong cultural and economic ties. Trade and shipping on the Baltic Sea had developed in the past. The past has left a sense of neighbourliness and has resulted in similarity of settlement structures. The fi fty year long political disruption in the region, up to the year1989, resulted in paltry coordination of joint measures on both sides of the border. The potential for cooperation and improvement of life standard for the region’s inhabitants was wasted.
Trade relations and other contacts were underdeveloped. Transport systems restricted by state borders were not suitable for cross border cooperation.
Degradation of the marine environment adversely affected the fi shing industry and tourism.
The end of the cold war, regaining of independence by Poland and the Baltic States, accession of Sweden and Finland to the European Union, moving of Germany’s capital closer to the Baltic Sea all contributed to rapid development of cooperation and new links. Cross border relations started their dynamic development. They are of key signifi cance as they triggered the elimination of barriers and prejudice, the developing official and unofficial interpersonal relations, especially between local societies.
Common historical heritage often means functional and structural similarities in areas, which started cooperating, as well as gradual and slow fading of the state border effect and economic revival of cross border regions. Cross border contacts facilitated the defeat of economic barriers and restrictions. This can also be noted on marine borders. Cross border cooperation in Scandinavian countries develops thanks to initiatives of local communities and embrace culture, environmental protection, medical care, transport and tourism. The Euroregional integration processes also embrace Polish borders.
The European scene is the witness of a new Baltic framework for international cooperation. During the last decade of XX century, countries around the Baltic Sea developed a strong network of institutional relations
54
and liaison of governmental, self governmental and nongovernmental organisations. These international structures, organisations and relations, though some are at an early stage of development, strengthen ties among entities shaping Baltic Europe.
Not so long ago the phrase “Baltic cooperation” was unheard of in Brussels. During the last two decades the Baltic region has emerged to be an important partner in implementing the European policy. Baltic cooperation has become signifi cant in terms of security and stability on this continent. Recognition of the Baltic Sea Region by the European Union as one of its priorities, the involvement in the work of the Council of the Baltic Sea States and its commissions, the fi nancial instruments such as PHARE, CBC, TACIS CBC, Baltic Small Project Facility (BSPF), INTERREG, etc. clearly indicate a trend in political reorientation from the south (Mediterranean Sea region) to the north, strengthening the position and image of the Baltic Sea Region. This was particularly prominent starting 1995 when the representatives of Denmark and Sweden took the lead in the Committee of the Regions, The EU Commission and EU Council defi ned their interest in the region in the document “Baltic Sea Region Initiative”.
A new subregion for cooperation
The Baltic Sea region is presently seen as a new developing subregion characterised by huge political and economic potential. The Baltic Sea Region surrounding the natural water basin experienced, from the end of XX century, very clear multifaceted integration processes. Following EU enlargement in 2004, the Baltic Sea has all but become an internal European Union water basin. Baltic Europe with a population of 106 million, i.e. 23%
of the total EU population and generating 16% of the GDP, features a huge potential in terms of economy and innovation. This region rates among the Community leaders in terms of development dynamics. Its strong points include a relatively well educated labour force, considerable dynamics of outlays for B+R, scientifi c and technology centres as well as a dense network of sea and land transport links. All these factors rate the region well in many European rankings. (P. Schmitt, A. Dubois, 2008.) Cooperation in Europe enjoys years of tradition. Following the EU enlargement on 1 May 2004 Baltic Europe reached a new stage of development. This fact no doubt contributed to closer cooperation between countries around the Baltic and led to joint Baltic initiatives in the European Union to upgrade peripheral Baltic regions. Political stability and economic development may, in a long term perspective, transform the new Baltic Europe without borders into an economic and cultural centre of Europe (N. Veggeland, 1994). However, its progress depends on successful
Tadeusz Palmowski
55 development of a common identity and economic policy (E. Kuriata, 1999).
Cooperation on environmental protection of the Baltic, which initiated mutual understanding, soon became one of the many signifi cant areas of cooperation of other than governmental and self governmental initiatives.
The natural and cultural heritage will remain important prerequisites of cooperation, raising ecological and civilisation awareness of the region.
There are many good reasons justifying the opinion that the present trends are sustainable and will continue to develop in future years.
Geographical proximity of these regions means special attractiveness of potential markets. The strongly rooted cultural, political and economic ties between countries around the Baltic also play a signifi cant role (N. Veggeland, 1995).
Examples of cooperation
The present systems of regional, national and international cooperation of societies and social organisations as well as transnational Baltic relations, organisations and projects shape the picture of Baltic Europe at the end of the fi rst decade of XXI century. Not only extensive and mature programmes shaping and tightening relations in the Baltic dimension such as VASAB 2010 – Visions and Strategies around the Baltic Sea will show clear growth but sp will sectoral cooperation.
The most important cooperation fora include CBSS – Council of the Baltic Sea States, BSSSC – Baltic Sea States Sub regional Cooperation, BSPC – Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference, Baltic Sea Forum, CPMR’s Baltic Sea Commission. Others include BaltMet – Baltic Metropoles Network, B 7 – Baltic Sea Seven Islands, UBC – Union of the Baltic Cities, in the environmental and energy sectors Baltic 21 – an agenda 21 for the Baltic Sea Region, HELCOM, ASREC – Baltic Sea Region Energy Co-operation, in the area of economic cooperation Baltic Development Forum, BCAA – Baltic Sea Chambers of Commerce Association, BASTUN – Baltic Sea Trade Union Network, in the sphere of culture and nongovernmental organisations ARS BALTICA, BTC – Baltic Sea Tourism Commission, Baltic Sea NGO forum are the leaders, whereas biotechnology and health issues are dealt with by BUP-The Baltic University Programme, ScanBalt and The Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being (NDPHS) (Journal of Nordregio, 2009)
Improvement of the technical infrastructure including roads, railway and ferry connection (including sea motorways), air links, telecommunication, energy and border crossings is a necessary prerequisite for dynamic development. Considerable signifi cance is also assigned to working out a common concept for the development of transport corridors. The
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transborder impact of transport networks affects social and economic regions adjacent to transport lines.
Projects initiated by VASAB 2010 indicate what direction and measures should be taken for regional development to benefit from transport corridors. The development of market economy, cooperation in technology, culture, education, tourism as well as information exchange accompanies further development of democracy.
INTERREG was initiated in 1989 and continued in the following programme periods as INTERREG II (1994–1999), INTERREG III (2000–
2006) and is presently in the main trend of EU Cohesion Policy (Objective 3: European Territorial Cooperation) with the financial input of the Community comes from the European Regional Fund.
In the years 2007–2013, 13 transborder cooperation projects were initiated in the Baltic Sea Region. The projects promote cooperation and direct relations, supporting economic and social development as well as protection of the environment in border regions. Joint measures on transborder cooperation involve:
Support for entrepreneurship, small and medium sized enterprises,
•
tourism, culture and crossborder traffi c.
Protection of the natural environment and cultural goods, counteracting
•
environmental and technology related hazards.
Improved access to transport, information and communication
•
networks.
Water and waste management as well as energy systems.
•
Development and common use of infrastructure particularly in such
•
areas as healthcare, culture and education.
Cooperation of administrations and integration of local society by
•
implementing joint measures in terms of the labour market, promotion of equality, the development of human resources and support for research and development.
In the years 2007–2013 three transborder cooperation programmes were set off in the Baltic Sea Region, the North Sea and Northern Periphery. The latter two are targeted at cooperation with areas lying beyond the Baltic Sea Region.
Transnational cooperation programmes focus at sustainable and coordinated spatial development. The key priorities involve:
Support for entrepreneurship.
•
Better access to areas covered by the programme and in the programme
•
area itself.
Raising attractiveness and competitiveness of towns and regions.
•
Reasonable use of the natural environment and resource management
•
(J. Ryba, 2008).
Tadeusz Palmowski
57 In 1997, Finland proposed to establish the “Northern Dimension” of the European Union. The purpose of the initiative involved defining the interests of the European Union in northern Europe from Iceland to northwest Russia, from the Barents Sea to the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. The project was mainly addressed to Russia (its northwest part) Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and north-east Poland. Implementation of the
“Northern Dimension” engaged not only Finland but all the other Nordic states: Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The initiative is based on verifi ed cooperation structures operating in this part of Europe, using aid funds allocated to this area with no need to establish new institutions (P. Lipponen, 1999).
“Northern Dimension”
The “Northern Dimension is to improve coordination of the EU policy in Northern Europe, eliminate gaps in economic development especially between EU and Russia and countries from the former eastern bloc. This dialogue platform between EU member countries and those beyond its structures is to prevent the risk of a new division of Europe in view of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia becoming EU members and Russia remaining with no realistic perspectives of accession.
Baltic integration may in future be more effective if all the present dispersed resources are merged into a Baltic programme accessible to all interested countries. Efforts to develop a common strategy for Baltic Europe are a step in that direction.
At the end of 2007 the European Council in Brussels approved a provision that became a mandate for the European Commission to undertake work on the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.
The Strategy objective is to activate the potential of the Baltic Sea Region following EU enlargement in 2004. Communications of the European Commission representatives project achievement of the objective by implementing such priorities as: environmental protection, accessibility, attractiveness and security.
The European Council showed more interest in the problems of the Baltic Sea region under the infl uence of MPs from Baltic countries gathered in an informal Baltic Europe group. This group prepared and presented a document entitled “An EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region” to the European Commission Chairman in November 2005. This study had a signifi cant impact on the European Parliament resolution on 16 December 2005 concerning the future of the “Northern Dimension”1 (European
1 European Parliament resolution on the future of the Northern Dimension, 16.11.
2005.
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Parliament resolution… 2005). The document draws attention to the role of Baltic cooperation in the context of EU enlargement in 2004. Concurrently, it was the fi rst proposal of adopting a separate strategy for Baltic Europe, which is an inner element of the “Northern Dimension”.
EU strategy for Baltic Europe
The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the strategy for the Baltic Sea Region on 16 November 2006. The resolution included a postulate addressed to the European Commission on developing a strategic framework for:
Activating the potential of the Baltic Sea Region following EU enlargement
•
in 2004.
Promoting the image of the Baltic Sea Region as the most attractive and
•
competitive area in global terms.
Increasing efforts to improve the state of the environment in the
•
region.
One of the Strategy objectives is competitive growth of Baltic Europe both in the context of European and that of global challenges. The document is also to promote the image of the Baltic Sea region. In particular it is to maintain and attract human capital, assure effective promotion of the region for international investments, promotion of export based on the principle
“good” because produced in the Baltic Sea region, and popularisation of the region’s tourist offer. The Strategy concept for the Baltic Sea region, which was to promote the region as one of the priority areas of the European Union, was put forward by the Swedish minister of foreign affairs Karl Bildt during the session of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS).
A successful promotion strategy for the region should stem from cooperation of the administration and self governments, environmental centres and representatives of involved economy sectors. The basic questions to answer in developing a promotion strategy for the region, according to M. Anderssona (2007) include:
What is its added value for the Baltic Sea Region as a whole and particular
•
countries in the region?
What are the elements common for the entire region which favour it in
•
global terms?
What elements (cultural, economic, geographical, historical, social,
•
ecological) should constitute the grounds for construing the promotion strategy for the region?
Potential problems encountered in developing such a concept, according to the author mentioned above, may refer to national protectionalism, diffi culties in setting rational, uniform criteria that would enable effective
Tadeusz Palmowski
59 assessment of the strategy, the need to coordinate the strategy based on territorial marketing of the region with national strategies and lack of strategy coordination centre based on territorial marketing of the region.
Baltic Europe continues to be strongly diversifi ed. The area includes the wealthiest and the most poverty stricken areas in the European Union.
Other important factors include the differences in population density, income and life standard as well as economic structures. The diversifi ed transport infrastructure hinders good transport links between particular countries. The major transport corridors in the region are not suffi ciently well developed. At the same time, the region has a huge potential to become a model region of integrated spatial planning.
Improvement of the inner cohesion, requires application of traditional instruments of EU cohesion policy and the necessity to urgently develop transborder sections of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) to provide multimodal links on land and at sea. Planning and management of sea areas should be harmonised with adjacent land areas.
Baltic Europe, though very competitive in terms of the economy of its members, continues to face many barriers that restrict further progress and maintenance of its position on the European and world markets. The most important barriers include diversification of economic development, insuffi cient use of the innovation potential, ominous structure and use of clusters’ potential and diffi culties in developing entrepreneurship.
Therefore, the strategy under development should account for the development of cooperation on innovation policy and strengthening scientifi c and research cooperation of Baltic countries.
Cross border and interregional cooperation supported under the cohesion policy of the European Union features very high added value for Baltic Europe. All countries in the region have positive experience they can share with other members.
Among the three key aspects economic, social and environmental, economic development seems to be the most important. Development of economic cooperation should be seen as a signifi cant factor contributing to the integration of countries around the Baltic on one hand and on the other to sustained development dynamics and attractiveness of the entire region.
Cooperation in the energy sector is of special signifi cance for sustainable development of Baltic Europe. The strategy should refer to initiatives which support reduced dependence on power supply from a single direction.
The present energy system of Baltic countries is to a limited degree linked with the systems of other member states. Thus, the construction of transmission infrastructure among member states is required to develop
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a joint energy market and joint measures in face of crisis. Investments in energy infrastructure under TENs (Trans-European Networks), similarly as all other investments should satisfy the environmental protection requirements, contribute to the diversifi cation of power import and bring benefi t to all member states in line with EU Council conclusions of June 2006.
The preliminary position of Poland on the Strategy adopted in June 2008 specifi ed tentative conditions that provide an opportunity to reach the set objectives. Attention has been drawn to the need for focusing on a limited number of priorities, reaching consensus by States in the region on setting the priorities, and the adverse effects of the dominating role in setting the priorities by a single state. Key elements were identifi ed for the success of the strategy and its implementation under the Schedule, the coordination of measures undertaken under the Strategy and the “Northern Dimension”
as well as participation of all players in developing the Strategy especially the world of science, business and nongovernmental organisations.
The Baltic Sea is both a challenge and an opportunity for the future.
Sustainable development harmoniously linking economic, environmental and social objectives indicates the principle direction of further integration.
Development should promote diversity, and respect for the individual, the natural environment, regional specifics and cultural heritage. As regional and individual preferences may vary there must be an option to develop various life styles, cultures and even economic activity. A high life standard is not possible without diversity. The diversity principle strengthens regional and local identity and enhances social fl exibility (Tallin Report..,1998).
Baltic cooperation providing stability in our part of the continent is the key to full integration of Europe. Old Baltic cultural relations here revive, this is the place to cultivate good neighbourliness with Russia and it is here that we can overcome the division between the poverty and prosperity zones. The long term history of the region is an opportunity to develop a regional identity. The vision of integrated Baltic Europe, a community of objectives and strategies, seems to be the concept worth persistent efforts and a drive to reach the goal in the oncoming decades of XXI century.
Conclusions
Following the EU enlargement on 1 May 2004 Baltic Europe reached a new stage of development. The Baltic Sea has all but become an inner European Union water basin. This fact has contributed to closer cooperation between countries around the Baltic Sea. These relations are of networking nature in many areas. Strengthening of joint Baltic initiatives within the European
Tadeusz Palmowski
61 Union in the oncoming decades will lead to reduction of existing disproportions and the upgrading of peripheral Baltic regions. Political stability and economic development may in a long term perspective transform the new Baltic Europe without borders into an economic and
61 Union in the oncoming decades will lead to reduction of existing disproportions and the upgrading of peripheral Baltic regions. Political stability and economic development may in a long term perspective transform the new Baltic Europe without borders into an economic and